“We’re not deaf” – Chancellor Philip Hammond says government know that people are “weary” of austerity and cuts https://t.co/NtT9UtJyp1 pic.twitter.com/6iQNgGNOY3

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 18, 2017

Remember when May and Hammond ditched the Tory tax lock and replaced it with a mere “firm intention” not to raise taxes? Today Hammond makes the most of that wriggle room and warns: “We’ve never said we won’t raise some taxes”. (Though he also cancelled the Budget.) The Tory record is already more debt and more taxes and the highest tax burden for decades. Hammond had already extended the deficit reduction horizon to 2025, now he is talking about ending austerity. This is entirely the wrong inference from their failure on June 8 and it is starting to concern more economically sensible Tory MPs…